Propounding A Will By Summary Judgment

We recently wrote about the case of Knipe v British Racing Drivers’ Motor Sport Charity & others, which considered how the Court would interpret purported ambiguous legacies. The decision in this case also demonstrated a key legal point in that the Court are able to deal with such applications by way of summary judgment and without the need for a hearing.

Summary judgments

Under CPR rule 24.3(2), the Court may give summary judgment against a Claimant in any type of proceedings and against a Defendant in any proceedings save for those related to possession of a residential property or proceedings for an admiralty claim in rem. This includes in Part 8 proceedings, despite CPR Part 8 making no express provision that proceedings may be dealt with by summary judgment.

Summary judgment is often used in proceedings where the Defendant wishes not to defend a claim but is failing to reach an agreement, and accordingly Order of the Court is required. A summary judgment will also be made if the Court believes the Claimant has no prospects of succeeding in the claim or on the other hand, the Defendant has no prospects of successfully defending the claim.

The Court may also seek to make judgment without a hearing. This is allowed in accordance with CPR Part 23.8 when:

• The parties agree as to the terms of the order sought;
• The parties agree that the Court should dispose of the application without a hearing; or
• The Court does not consider that a hearing would be appropriate.

The call for summary judgment without hearing in the case of Knipe v British Racing Drivers’ Motor Sport Charity & others was on the basis that there was no conflicting argument and this simply became a matter of construction for the Court’s consideration. This suggests that similar cases moving forward may be dealt with in the same way, saving costs and time for all involved.